The present invention relates to a door hinge assembly for installation in a vehicle for attaching a vehicle door to a vehicle body.
Certain types of vehicles have adjacent doors that open in opposite handed manners with respect to one another. These adjacent doors typically latch to one another, or to an intermediate pillar of the vehicle body, for securement in their closed positions. In known designs, each of these doors swing about a pivot defined by a hinge assembly. However, in these known designs, the swing arcs of the doors overlap because of the thickness of the doors. The overlap of the swing arcs occurs because each of the doors are panel constructions having a substantial thickness. As a result, one of the doors must be opened prior to the other door. Similarly, when closing the doors, one door must be closed prior to the other door.
An example of a vehicle with a door configuration of this type is a pickup truck with an extended cab having adjacent front and rear doors on at least one side of the vehicle. In this configuration, the front door must be opened before (and closed after) the rear door. This is because the front doors are typically used more frequently that the rear doors. A similar door configuration is often used in vehicles such as vans or sport utility vehicles that have side by side cargo doors at the rear of the vehicle. Here again, a first door must typically be opened before the other door can be opened.
This door configuration is undesirable for several reasons. Passengers that are seated in the rear seat of a pickup truck are not able to open the rear doors of the cab, unless the adjacent front door has been opened first. This is inconvenient and may require the person sitting in the rear seat to somehow reach the door handle of the front door. Only after having first opened the front door can the person sitting in the rear seat open the rear door. Putting cargo behind the front seat of the pickup also requires the user to first open the front door, then open the rear door, and finally place the cargo in the desired location. Obviously in certain circumstances, this extra effort is inconvenient, especially while handling large or awkward articles. Likewise, if a vehicle user needs to place an infant in a child seat behind the front seat of the vehicle, the vehicle user must perform the extra steps required to open the rear door while holding the infant.
The present invention solves the problems addressed above by providing an improved hinge assembly for attaching a vehicle door to a vehicle body in covering relation to a door opening in the vehicle body. The hinge assembly comprises a body bracket configured to be mounted to the vehicle body, a door bracket configured to be attached to the vehicle door, and, a door bracket carrier having the door bracket pivotally mounted thereon. The door bracket carrier is movably mounted to the body bracket such that, when the door bracket is attached to the vehicle door and the body bracket is attached to the vehicle body, the door bracket and the vehicle door to which the door bracket is attached move relative to the vehicle body and the body bracket between a fully closed position and a fully opened position through a multiple phase movement. The multiple phase movement comprises a shifting phase and a swinging phase. In the shifting phase, the door bracket carrier, the door bracket, and the door to which the door bracket is attached move in a shifting manner from the fully closed position to an intermediate open position. In the swinging phase, the door bracket and the door to which the door bracket is attached move in a swinging manner relative to vehicle body between the intermediate position and the fully open position.
The hinge assembly includes motion restriction structure that restricts movement of the door bracket relative to the body bracket such that the door bracket is fixed with respect to the door bracket carrier during the shifting phase. During the shifting phase, movement of the door bracket and the door to which the door bracket is attached is restricted to the shifting manner. Additionally, the motion restriction structure restricts movement of the door bracket carrier with respect to said body bracket during the swinging phase. During the swinging phase, movement of the door bracket and the door to which the door bracket is attached is restricted to the swinging manner, thereby preventing movement of the door in the shifting manner from occurring prior to or during movement of the door in the swinging manner.
Objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, the accompanying drawings, and the appended claims.